Friday, May 11, 2012

Growth Forecast Reduced

According to the European Commission, the French economy will grow only 1.3% in 2012 instead of the 1.7% previously predicted. The media are presenting this as a challenge to and constraint on François Hollande's policies even before he assumes the powers of the presidency. This is backwards. They should be treating it as a verdict on the failure of the "Merkozy" policy to produce the "expansionary contraction" promised. Austerity is a failure. The new forecast is proof of the need for a revision of thinking. If Hollande is shrewd, he will immediately present the new figures in this light rather than submit to the prescriptions of the Eurodoctors, who, like characters out of Molière, ritually intone the same formula: "Our medicine has made you sicker, you must take more of it." It's time for Hollande to assert himself, to change the tone of this dialogue des sourds.

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I have been a student and observer of French politics since 1968. In that time I've translated more than 130 books from the French, including Tocqueville's Democracy in America and Thomas Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century. I chair the seminar for visiting scholars at Harvard's Center for European Studies and am a member of the editorial board of French Politics, Culture, and Society and of The Tocqueville Review/La revue Tocqueville. You can read some of my writing on French politics and history here and a short bio here. From time to time I will include posts by other students of France and French politics (accessible via the index link "guest"). My hope is that this site will become a gathering place for all who are interested in discussing and analyzing political life in France. You can keep track of posts on Twitter by following "artgoldhammer".